The Other Side of it All
by praptip
Summary: He was at the station and we got a glimpse. But what happened in between when the teenager became a man? When an enemy transformed into something else.


A/N: This is a companion piece to So It Continues it follows the same timeline. It can be read before, or after or along with So It Continues.

Morning Blues (Chapter 1)

She sat up with a jolt her breathing hard and shallow, and slowly counted to ten trying to get her breathing back to normal. She shifted the blanket and stepped on the ground, the coldness of the floor woke her up unpleasantly and she let out a groan. She looked at all the bruises littering her body for second before pulling on a pair of shorts and a purple shirt, and grabbed her wand walked into the bathroom and got ready for another day of looking behind her back. She stared into the mirror and hardly recognized the person looking back, her eyes had gone lifeless, and her hair that she had mercilessly chopped off was stringy and dry. The bruises on her face were at least dissipating. With a sigh she cast a disguise charm which made it all go away with a flick, she had decided on short dark blue hair, tanned her skin a little, and her eyes were a brilliant unreal light blue. She grabbed her purse, all she had left with her, and headed out the dingy motel in Sutton.

In the alley way filled with trash, she Disapparated with a POP and the boy following her groaned in annoyance. She Apparated in the heart of London, and briskly walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Without even a nod to Tom she sprinted to Diagon alley and then with another POP Disapparated to Hogsmeade. She stood behind a bush and cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself and watched her sister.

She looked healthier than a month ago, but it had been a month since the funeral. She spent an irregular amount of time looking around, like she was searching for something or someone. The handsome boy put his arm around her and she seemed to calm down. They were moving their things into a moderately sized apartment in a nice residential area of the neighborhood. Then with a sense of dread she watched a gorgeous boy with deep dark brown hair approach the happy couple. From where she was watching she saw her sister hug the boy and introduce him to Nathan. The brown haired boy then looked around much like sister had, they were looking for her. Which was a strange occurrence, since she was supposed to be six feet under.

His eyes shot open and he instantly grabbed his new wand. Every muscle in his pale body was tense and he listened intently for any indicators of danger. A minute passed before he finally calmed down, the nightmare's effects having passed. His emerald sheets slipped off his body and his feet touched the luscious carpet. He stretched out and then started to do some push ups, all the while holding his wand.

When he finished he headed over to the marble bathroom connected to his bedroom, he turned the shower to the hottest water and stepped in. The hot water cascaded his toned muscles and drained away his soreness. He noticed that the bruises, cuts, and marks were starting to turn into light purple that blended into his pale skin. He stepped out and donned a pair of shorts and a muggle t-shirt, ready to annoy his father to no end. As soon as he had stepped back into his room he heard his mothers voice ring quite clearly through the mansion "Draco, breakfast in the dining room in five minutes."

She stood up from her hiding place and with one last look at her sister walked away into Hogsmeade. She remembered getting of the Hogwarts express and she remembered getting on it for the last time 'you should have stayed' her inner voice quipped and she scowled 'well I didn't so shut up!' she replied back and continued her journey.

She walked up the steep incline to the cemetery, making sure she was alone she made her way to her parent's grave. She felt tears run down her face and wiped them away quickly. She missed them constantly the pain having eased but the ache as painful as ever. Then she swiftly kicked the gravestone right besides theirs. "Fuck" she screamed in pain 'that's what you get' it sang again annoying herself to no end "it's my grave I can bloody well do what I want to it" she screamed the anger, frustration, and pain flooding her. She continued to punch the gravestone till her knuckles were bloody and her energy exhausted. She took out her wand and cast a cleaning spell on the stone before she Disapparated.

She landed with a thud in the dingy alley, and some how managed to drag her body back into her room, and collapsed onto her bed, her bloody knuckles staining the sheets and her body passing out from the lack of nourishment and care. The boy watched her with pity, having waited in that alley never leaving his post, not daring to disobey orders.

"Sleep well dear?"

"Yes, mother."

"Any plans for today?"

"Yes, I was going to go Diagon Alley do some shopping, get some sun."

"Draco do not get smart with your mother."

The conversation ended at that point, everyone choosing to eat in silence, the house arrest wearing heavily on the family. After the war they had been told by the ministry to remain at the manor at all costs, not necessarily as punishment but for protection. After Harry had woken up and defeated the Dark Lord all the death eaters had pretty quickly established that Narcissa Malfoy had in fact lied. They had remained to fill out all the paper work required to guarantee them protection from the ministry, and then retreated to the manor.

There had been a few attempts at their lives, but that had become a normal occurrence for the Malfoys. The Death Eaters blamed them for the death of their lord, and the rest of the wizarding world blamed them for being Death Eaters. Which meant they had no refuge in either camp. Draco didn't know what to do with himself, or anything else that matter. He was grateful to his mother that was for sure. She had acted like Saint Potter's mother, what was he supposed to with that kind of information. It hadn't been his war, it never had been. But he had something to do he had a goal and now he was left with nothing but the sense of dread for the future.

His family had been in the center, they had been important. Now they were forced to hide in their own house. True they had not been thrilled about the events of the past year, or even the past few years but they had status and wealth. Now, they just had their names, which was dirt to so many.

Hogwarts had ended early, not that he had studied the last two years he was there. Starting with the last name of Malfoy was going to be difficult; proving himself was going to be worse. He hadn't decided what he was going to do with his future, never having assumed he would survive 6th year, and then never assuming to survive last year. It loomed ahead him completely ominous in all that it offered. He was a survivor and he would do whatever it took to survive, but he longed for a life of peace. He felt a lot older than a boy of seventeen, he felt ancient and he felt like he was old enough to retire and hell even live a life of boredom.

Breakfast ended in silence and he quickly retired to his room, his haven. He could hear his parents arguing again, he had never heard them argue as much as they had after the war. It was often because of his mother's guilt and his father's frustration, it often ended with his father apologizing so he knew it was as normal as could be expected. He drifted of to sleep, his body attempting to recover from the last two years of stress and strain.

She awoke in a drowsy haze and noticed it was dark out, "Shit!" It wasn't the first time she had passed out from exhaustion during the day, and she knew it would hardly be the last. She rummaged around the room trying to find enough money for some food. She knew she was running out and she could hardly walk up to the bank to claim the money her parents had left her. He had eyes everywhere he thought she would go, and he knew her quite well. She managed too find a few notes of muggle money and decided that would do. She cast another charm and grabbed her umbrella to protect herself from the light rain, and tried to find a cheap place to eat.

Draco Malfoy was poked awake from a terrified house elf squeaking, "Master Malfoy must wake up, the masters have left" the house elf left with a rather large crack when Draco's eyes opened. Draco knew he did not have that much time before his parents would be back, so he cast a disguise charm and Apparted into the shed next to the oak tree in the garden. He slowly cracked the shed's door open let his eyes roam the garden for any signs of life, then crept behind the tree tapped on the wall and escaped to freedom.

He had been sneaking out of the mansion since the age of twelve, and had discovered the secret door at the young age of ten. He wasn't sure if his father knew it existed, but he knew it was the only reason he was sane. He had been sneaking out the mansion regularly during the last month and spending time in muggle London. He had the house elves inform him when his parents left for the many meetings they had with the ministry. His stomach let out a growl and he decided to try the local cuisine.

She sat in the dingy restaurant trying to eat the fish and chips she had ordered, but it was disgusting. It was the cheapest place she had found and now she knew why. She idly twirled the strand of dark blue hair she was sporting. Her eyes snapped to the door when it opened and she tensed. He was a wizard no doubt about it, her parents had told her that she had an uncanny ability to pick out wizards and she knew it was true. He looked uncomfortable in his own skin, and she knew it to be a sign that he was in disguise as well. He was rather tall and pale, and was sporting black hair and blue eyes. He stumbled paying for his meal and then slowly walked towards her, and she pulled her wand out of her purse ready to attack.

Draco walked toward the only empty seat in the dingy restaurant. He had hopped to eat somewhere nicer, but he couldn't take the hunger pains anymore and walked into the first place he saw. The girl at the table looked tense, and had blue hair 'muggles must have their own ways to color hair' he thought has he sat down.

"Hello, sorry but it's the only free seat."

She looked up and seemed to relax 'he has no idea I am a witch' she thought "yeah it's alright."

"Come here often?"

"No, not at all."

He bit into the only food he had recognized on the menu fish and chips and then gagged.

"Yeah its not very good, if you take a drink right after its a lot better." She encouraged, as she pushed her drink over to him.

He gulped it down "thank you that was horrible!"

She laughed, and he looked up suddenly. He had thought she wasn't very pretty before but that laugh it changed everything. It rang clear and made her sound so alive, it was amazing.

She laughed without holding back; it felt so good to just laugh. "Yeah there other places further down that have food that's a lot better, just more expensive too."

"Oh" he finally looked at her cloths and realized she was dressed pretty shabbily and then felt uncomfortable having finished her drink "well we can leave this shit place and grab a drink, I owe you one."

She knew that look, he felt bad for her, and she didn't blame him. She knew that she looked pretty damn bad. 'Yeah, but I'm probably twice as rich as him' she thought with a slight smirk. "Oh no that's quite alright; I have to get going its getting dark out."

"Well maybe some other time." He stated completely dazed 'she just said NO to me!' he thought. No one had ever said no flat out to Draco like that especially not a muggle, and he was shocked. His ego took quite the hit, but then he realized he didn't look he normally did and instantly felt better. While he went through his miniature anxiety attack she had already left.

She left the wizard and smiled to herself 'he has obviously never had anyone say no' she thought smugly to herself as she made her way down the alley and into her dingy motel. All the while Draco realizing he was late Disapparated next to the mansion's wall tapped on it and snuck back into the garden and then Apparated into his room.


End file.
